Microsoft Mulls Office Business Productivity Suite for iPad

Microsoft is reportedly planning to dish out its Office business productivity suite for Apple's iPad tablet device.

Sources have told The Daily that the Windows maker is planning to capitalise on the popularity of the iPad, which dominates 80 per cent of the tablet market, to expand the user base of Office, which has already proved to be a fat cash cow for the company.

Microsoft is also planning to release Office 2012 for Apple's new Mac OS X Lion platform next year. It is highly likely that Microsoft will make the Office 2012 via the Mac App Store. The apps are most likely to come with support for Office 365, the cloud based version of its productivity suite, as an answer to Google's Docs platform.

The company has been showing a lot of love for Apple's iOS platform, releasing a companion for the Xbox 360 and launching a SkyDrive app.

However, Microsoft seems to be a late in offering Office for the iPad, just like it was late to enter the smartphone market. A number of apps are already available for the iPad which let users work on Microsoft documents, not to mention Apple's own apps.